Facing an uproar from upset students, USC has decided to reserve more commencement tickets for graduates.
Students graduating May 9 will now receive six tickets for family and friends, not four, to their commencement ceremony because USC is reconfiguring how it sets up the Colonial Life Arena to open more seats. Graduates will also get one ticket for themselves.
USC doesn’t usually require tickets but will this year because officials expect high demand for Vice President Joe Biden’s address. Students graduating on May 10 can receive one ticket to see Biden’s address.
The ceremony will not be open to the public or to current students, the university said in a release, but spokesman Wes Hickman said USC is looking at adding an overflow viewing area.
Tickets will be distributed at the Colonial Life Arena from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on April 24 and 25.
May 9 graduates will also have a chance to pick up tickets that aren’t claimed. Hickman said the university hasn’t decided yet how it will distribute those tickets, but they’ll be available starting April 28 at 8 a.m.
“I’m pretty hopeful there’ll be plenty of those unclaimed tickets,” Hickman said.
The decision to open up more seats follows an uproar on social media from students who said they didn’t want to leave family and friends out of their graduation. Others said family had already made travel plans when USC announced the ticket requirement.
By Tuesday evening, an online petition asking USC to “politely uninvite” Biden had gathered nearly 1,500 signatures.
Biden’s high profile has led to a number of other changes for the May 9 commencement ceremony, which includes business, mass communications, nursing, pharmacy and public health students:
—Doors will open May 9 at 11:30 a.m. even though the ceremony won’t begin until 3 p.m. so that attendees have time to get through security.
—Doors will close at 2:20 p.m., and attendees will have to be seated by 2:30 p.m., half an hour before the ceremony begins.
—Signs, posters, noisemakers, backpacks and briefcases won’t be allowed. Purses and bags will be searched.
—Graduates will have to submit the full names of all ticketholders in advance.
—Tickets and photo IDs will be required to enter the arena.